Cuttack, Jan. 10: Orissa High Court today constituted a high-level committee to resolve the case of a physically-handicapped teacher of Palasbani Sevashrama in Mayurbhanj district, who has been made to run from pillar to post for 23 years in an attempt to get his service benefits.

Bijay Kumar Das (54), who became disabled after an attack of polio, has already put in nearly 30 years of service at “sevashramas” run by the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe development department, but remains deprived of pay fixation, increment and promotion as his service book went missing in 1987.

The court constituted the committee after dispensing with the personal appearances of district welfare officer of Sundargarh district and the headmaster of Bhalulata Secondary Training School where the original service book was sent when Das underwent training there in 1987-89.

The committee, headed by the director of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe department, included the collectors and district welfare officers of Sundargarh and Mayurbhanj and the headmistress of Bhalulata Secondary Training School.

“While constituting the committee, the two-judge bench of Justice B.P. Das and Justice Sanju Panda directed it to resolve the issue of the service book by February 15 and submit a compliance report in court on February 22,” petitioner counsel Prabir Kumar Das told The Telegraph today.

“The court also directed the case to be listed for hearing on February 23,” he added.

Earlier the high court had converted a letter petition on the plight of the disabled teacher into a writ petition and taken it up for hearing on December 22.

Advocate Prabir Kumar Das, a human rights activist and member of the High Court Bar, submitted the letter petition stating that the teacher’s family, which consists of his wife and two children, had been suffering because of Bijay Kumar Das’s meagre salary that was hardly enough to make ends meet.

“The family is virtually starving and it amounts to the violation of the right to life of the family,” the letter petition had stated.

The teacher had joined as ‘sevak’ in 1980. He was relieved on July 9, 1987, to enable him to join the C.T training at Bhalulata Secondary Training School in Sundargarh district.

After completing training (1987-89), Bijay Kumar Das was posted in Mayurbhanj district. After submitting his joining report before the district welfare officer Mayurbhanj on June 2, 1989, he has served in various Sevashrams at Satkosia, Bakartala and Ghugi before being posted at Palasbani Sevashram.

He has been deprived of pay fixation, increment, promotion etc. because his original service book (which was sent to Bhalulata Secondary Training School in Sundargarh district in 1987-89) remains missing.